1 . A Fantastic Round Trip Rail Tour of Scotland

※9 days

※$2,395 per person (Travel insurance is not included in the price but can be arranged.)

Special offer

Book a qualifying 2023 escorted(导游陪同) rail tour and save up to $250 per person. Book by November 24, 2022, so that your vacation start or end can be arranged to meet your travel needs.

About the tour

Lakes and valleys, as well as castles and islands, wait for our discovery as we travel through the beautiful island of Scotland. The explorations begin in Edinburgh, where we can explore freely before traveling to Glasgow. In Glasgow, we board the famous West Highland Line and travel along lakes, past mountains, and through unique villages. Leaving the mainland, we journey by ferryboat to the Isle of Mull and enjoy a visit to an ancient castle and authentic Scotch whiskey(威士忌酒). Then, we enjoy highlights such as Neptune’s Staircase, a cruise of Loch Linnhe, a ride aboard the Jacobite Steam Train. and the legendary Loc h Ness. One final train ride, the Kyle Line, takes us to Kyle of Lochalsh, where we visit the 13th-century Eilean Donan Castle. After returning to Edinburgh, we can enjoy more representative views.

Highlights

·Three scenic rail excursions(短途旅行)

·Isle of Mull including Duart Castle

·Whiskey tasting

·Visits to Eilean Donan Castle

What’s included

2 . My motivation for starting our family tradition of reading in the car was purely selfish: I could not bear listening to A Sesame Street Christmas for another 10 hours. My three children had been addicted to this cassette on our previous summer’s road trip.

As I began to prepare for our next 500-mile car trip, I came across a book — Jim Trelease’s The Read Aloud Handbook. This could be the answer to my problem, I thought. So I put Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach into my bag. When I began to read aloud the tale of the boy who escapes the bad guys by hiding inside a giant peach, my three kids argued and wrestled in their seats. But after several lines, they were attracted into the rhythm of the words and began to listen.

We soon learned that the simple pleasure of listening to a well-written book makes the long miles pass more quickly. Sometimes the books we read became highlights of the trip. I read Wilson Rawls’s Summer of the Monkeys as we spent two days driving to the beach. We arrived just behind the power crews restoring (恢复) electricity after a tropical storm. The rain continued most of the week, and the beach was covered with oil washed up by the storm. When we returned home, I asked my son what he liked about the trip. He answered without hesitation, “The book you read in the car.”

Road trips still offer challenges, even though my children now are teenagers. But we continue to read as we roll across the country. And I’m beginning to see that reading aloud has done more than help pass the time. For at least a little while, we are not shut in our own electronic worlds. And maybe we’ve started something that will pass on to the next generation.

3 . Travel Peru

Amazon Rainforest Tour

A short flight from Cusco takes you from the Andes into the Amazon rainforest. From there, you’ll spend one day travelling by boat to your accommodation in the middle of the forest. You can then spend three days exploring the rainforest with a local guide and enjoying the plants and animals unique to the rainforest.

Machu Picchu Tour

This four-day walking tour will take you on amazing paths through the Andes Mountains on the way to the city of Machu Picchu. After reaching your destination, you will have a day to explore and be amazed by this ancient city. Especially amazing is the Incas’ dry stone method of building. Inca builders cut stones to exact sizes so that nothing was needed to hold walls together other than the perfect fit of the stones.

Cusco Tour

Spend four days enjoying the unique Spanish and local Indian culture high in the Andes at Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th century. Stay in a local hotel, visit the museums, admire the architecture, enjoy the excellent local food, and go shopping at the local markets.

Lake Titicaca Tour

Enjoy the beautiful countryside as you spend a day driving along the new highway connecting Cusco to Lake Titicaca. There, a boat will take you to stay with a local Uros family on an island for three days. Both the island and the Uros homes are made of water plants from the lake.

4 . If you are planning a trip, you may be wondering what might be in your line of travel when it comes to unique buildings. There are some unusual, unique buildings you should put on your travel bucket list.

Capital Gate-Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Capital Gate is one of the tallest buildings in Abu Dhabi. According to the Guinness World Records, Capital Gate is the world’s farthest leaning, man-made tower. The structure leans at an 18 degree angle, and intentionally so. This is a lean about 5 times greater than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault-Longyearbyen, Norway

Nothing grand or stunning about this structure, from a visual perspective. But, in some way, the future of civilization may depend on the work done at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is designed to store millions of different types of seeds for the replanting of various crops in the event of any number of major global disasters. The building comes complete with blast-proof doors, airlocks, and motion sensors.

Palace of the Parliament-Bucharest, Romania

The Palace of the Parliament is the second largest administrative building on the planet. Indeed, it is so big that it can be seen from space. The structure was commissioned by the last communist dictator to rule in Romania. A fraction of the building is in use today, most of it sitting idle.

Lotus Temple-Delhi, India

If in India, a visitor interested in building and architecture should also check out the Lotus Temple in Delhi. The Lotus Temple is indeed designed to mimic the appearance of the flower. The Lotus Temple is a Bahai house of worship completed in 1986.

6 . In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge influence. And when it’s a tropical country like Singapore where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still.

Promising 42,000 new homes across five residential districts, the eco-town of Tengah will be the 24th new settlement built by Singapore’s government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center, with which environment lovers hope to offer a roadmap for reducing carbon emissions in the Southeast Asian city-state.

The development is named as “Forest Town” by officials, due to its abundant greenery and public gardens. Once home to brickmaking factories, and later used for military training, the 2.7-square-mile site has been reclaimed by a forest in recent years. A 328-foot-wide ecological “corridor” will be maintained through its center, providing safe passage to wildlife and connecting a water catchment area on one side to a nature reserve on the other.

The project has proven a new plan for urban planners supporting green design principles and “smart” technology, according to Chong Fook Loong, group director for research and planning at Singapore’s Housing and Development Board, the agency overseeing the country’s public housing. “Tengah is a new start,” he said in a video interview, explaining that roads and parking are being pushed beneath the town center. “We’re going for the ideal concept of separated traffic, with everything underground and then the ground level totally freed up for pedestrians — for people. So, it’s a very safe environment for all.”

“We want a town that allows walking and cycling in a very user-friendly manner,” he added, saying that cycling has “taken off” in Singapore in the “last three to five years especially”. The master plan will see the installation of electric vehicle charging stations.

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7 . Best Spring Destinations In Tibet

The peach blossoms in Nyingchi, Tibet autonomous region have been dubbed as “the most beautiful peach flowers in the world”. The annual Nyingchi peach blossom festival has become a signature tourism event on the plateau. The peach blossom valley stretches for 30 kilometers, making it one of the longest in China.

Nanyigou scenic spot is 20 kilometers away from Milin county and is an important birthplace of the mysterious Tibetan medicine culture. The scenic area covers a total area of 820 hectares. The ecological conditions here are so good that the place is rich in various animal and plant species. Surrounded by mountains, Nanyi Valley is an ideal spring destination for visitors, where you can find peach and azalea blossoms everywhere.

The Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world. With a total length of about 500 kilometers, its altitude spans from 7,782 meters at NamchakBarwa, the highest peak of the eastern Himalayas, to 550 meters around the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley. One unique feature of the spring sight here is that visitors can enjoy both the peach blossoms and the snow-capped mountains at the same time.

Lulang Scenic Zone, located in Lulang town, covers a land area of 859, 000 square meters with artificial lakes. The scenic zone contains rich natural scenery, including forest-cladmountains, flowers, lakes and beautiful landscapes, with snowy mountains seen in the far background. Every year from April to June, with wild flowers blossoming alongside the meandering (蜿蜒的) streams and snowy mountains towering in the backdrop, the whole landscape presents a peaceful and pleasant sight.

9 . Japan’s biggest airline is betting that the future of travel isn’t traveling at all. For the last month, a married couple has been interacting with a robot—called an Avatar—that’s controlled by their daughter hundreds of miles away. Made by ANA Holdings Inc., it looks like a vacuum cleaner with an iPad attached. But the screen displays the daughter’s face as they chat, and its wheels let her move about the house as though she’s really there.

“Virtual travel” is nothing new, of course. Story-tellers, travel writers and artists have been stimulating the senses of armchair tourists for centuries. It’s only in recent decades that frequent, safe travel has become available to the non-wealthy. Yet even as the world’s middle classes climb out of the armchair and into economy-class seat, there are signs of a post-travel society emerging. Concerns about environmental sustainability cause loss to airlines which release much carbon. And the aging of abundant societies is both restricting physical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world. For the travel industry, virtual reality offers an attractive response to these trends.

Of course, new technologies encourage far-out claims. ANA doesn’t plan to start selling Avatars until next year. Profits, too, will probably be difficult to make: By one estimate, the global market for this kind of technology will be worth only about $300 million by 2023. By contrast, ANA’s traditional travel business brought in more than $19 billion last year.

But if the business value for virtual vacations is still weak, the market for technologies that bridge physical distances between families and coworkers seems likely to only expand. ANA’s robots may not replace its airplanes any time soon, but they’ll almost certainly be a part of travel’s high-tech future.

10 . Booking flights can be really exciting, but the prices might shock you into not booking your dream vacation. Never fear! We’ve offered some best tips for finding the cheapest airfares.

◆ Be Flexible with Your Travel Dates and Times

Airline ticket prices vary greatly depending on the day of the week and time of the year. In general, Fridays and Sundays are the most desirable days, so tickets will be pricier. Prices are cheaper if you fly after a major holiday. Airlines know when a festival, holiday, or school break is coming up — and they raise prices accordingly. Be flexible with your dates and times, and you’ll save yourself some major money.

◆ Use Multiple Flight Platforms

Checking between the different platforms can often provide you with better insights into flight combinations and prices — for the same exact flights. Different platforms have different advantages and features, so play around with them all. You’ll quickly determine the one(s) you like best!

◆ Check for a Student Discount

As a student, you might be in luck. Some airlines, say, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), have a student ticket which means that for up to one week before departure, students pay the cheapest fare. Normal travelers at that time have to pay a much higher price, but a SAS Youth Ticket may be only one quarter the price of a normal ticket.

◆ Keep an Eye for Special Deals

Before looking for specific flights, make sure you’ve signed up for some newsletters. Joining the mailing list for airlines will give you access to the absolute best deals. More often than not, cheap flights are only available for a limited window (usually 24 hours). Keeping your eye on the deals will ensure you don’t miss an amazing opportunity.